Origins

eBay is big. Very big. At any given time, there are over 18 million
items for sale, with an average of $680 worth of transactions taking
place every second. And these numbers will
undoubtedly be even higher by the time you get around to reading
this.

But like most big things, eBay started out small. As the story goes,
eBay was born of a dinner conversation between Pierre Omidyar and his
wife, Pam, about PEZ®
dispensers. As it turns out, this, like many origin stories, is a
myth (this one was cooked up by eBay PR whiz Mary Lou Song); but the
fact remains that eBay still has that PEZ-dispenser feel, and
that's what keeps customers coming.